Week-ending 28 August 2020
On Monday, 24 August 2020, a Russian military court sentenced Airat Dilmukhametov, a prominent opposition activist from the Bashkortostan region, to nine years in a high-security prison on extremism charges, RFE/RL reported. The court in the city of Samara also banned the activist from administering websites for three years in a case he has rejected as politically motivated. Dilmukhametov, who was arrested in March 2019, was convicted of issuing public calls to violate Russia’s territorial integrity. The charge stems from a video statement he made in 2018 urging the creation of a “real” federation in Russia with more autonomous rights given to ethnic republics and regions.
Dilmukhametov has been recognised by Memorial Human Rights Centre as a political prisoner.
